Olie Linsdell dominates Classic TT - on a Paton

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Strewth! I have always been astounded at what Steve Linsdell has accomplished with a Royal Enfield (Seeley) but the performance of Steve's bike in the hands of son Olie at the Classic TT is one of the more phenomenal results in memory.

Olie beat the fastest Classic 500 TT riders and bikes in the world on dad's Royal Enfield, in a convincing fashion: "Linsdell was untouchable as he blitzed through the Sulby speed trap at 146.84mph on lap three, smashing the lap record again with a speed of 111.660mph as he stretched further clear, with 50 seconds in hand over Coward in second place." On a pushrod Bullet, he defeated the fastest Manx Nortons, G50s and Patons, not to mention MV. I'm stunned! If it was a movie, you'd dismiss it as unbelievable.

Yes, many of them failed to finish. The IoM is tough, but you have to finish; Olie did. Yes, Olie's bike is built to the limit of the rules - as are all the others. Steve and Olie just started from a considerably more humble place. Well done, Sirs.

Cheers
Rick F
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Wow never thought of RE as world class racer capable.
I've been wondering about where the new age real advantage
was and this result shows its the bee line straights not the hard
parts handling dangerous turns on power. Elites hit 190+, so
50 mph faster in top end, but are only ~25 mph faster over all...
Here's the current IOM lap time/speed for comparison.http://www.iomtt.com/TT-Database/TT-Rec ... cords.aspx

But the Enfield wasn't slow. 106 mph race average and a fastest lap of 107 mph is still phenomenal. There was an article on the bike in one of last year's Classic Bike mags. Although it is based on a Royal Enfield, it has been substantially re-engineered. And no better man to do it than Steve Lindsell, the race winner's Dad.

Equally phenomenal was Doug Snow's 10th place at 98 mph, and this was on a humble Ducati 350cc Sebring-based engine, not a bored and stroked 450.

There is an Aussie poster on this forum, Snibor, who entered his BSA triple in the Formula Classic event. He must have got a DNF because his rider wasn't on the results sheet. What a shame after all that work. And his rider posted the second fastest lap in practice (104 mph). I hope he can fill us in on what happened if he reads this.

If the Royal Enfield was' built to the limit of the rules', it is supposed to be an historic bike. I suggest there is a lot of hypocrisy in that. I suggest the guys would be better doing 'classic racing' and specify the technology limits for the classes. All the spec. would have to be would be is 'aircooled two valve engines up to three cylinders' and run in the old capacity classes with only one cut-off date. Then there might be some honesty in the proceedings ?

ugh the list I snagged this from point out the Paton won with the RE in 133+ mph tops which is still dang fast. RE builders have more plans for it but to call it a Royal Enfield is same as a Maney-Seeley or Monroe's Indians being the real thing.
New one on me, cool.

Yep, classic racing is no longer about history, but about which millionaire can outspend the other. Sure there are some real classic bikes in classic racing, but when the millionaires dump cash into bikes like this then they make the headlines, other dummies eat it up and think that is what classic racing should be about, instead of it being about preserving and recreating history.

I watched Steve Linsdell racing the 500 single Royal Enfield in the 1970s around places like Brand’s Hatch, usually winning his class, his speed was really fast., as he regularly beat the DOHC 500s. He tuned his own engines raising the compression ratio, fitting a 750 drum front brake, (Classic racing rules)
Steve Linsdell started racing in 1977 on a hand built Royal Enfield with a 1959 Bullet 500cc engine and a Colin Seeley frame. The public was quite sceptic when he took the field at the Isle of Man TT in 1981 and astonished to see him finish second in the newcomers race at 94.87 mph. This is the last Royal Enfield to go on the IOM TT podium!

ugh the list I snagged this from point out the Paton won with the RE in 133+ mph tops which is still dang fast. RE builders have more plans for it but to call it a Royal Enfield is same as a Maney-Seeley or Monroe's Indians being the real thing.
New one on me, cool.

There was a fast bantam racing here - short barrels and made five gear changes - proves WHAT? It blew off most of the big British bikes - SO ? Are supposed to believe there were no RS125 Yamaha parts involved ? Nobody is that simple ! We even see historic bikes with the full go-kart electronics these days.